Hiruzen Sarutobi's The Gods of Shinobi
by EvilFuzzy9
Summary: A collection of the esteemed professor's most influential works and theories compiled from the notes of the late Hiruzen Sarutobi by his son Asuma Sarutobi and his grandson Konohamaru Sarutobi. Gen, Crack, WMG, etc.
1. Title Page

**Hiruzen Sarutobi's**

_**The Gods of Shinobi:**_

**Contemplating the history, scientific principles, and philosophical tenets of the ninja arts and their relation to the legend of the Sage of the Six Paths and the ancient religion of **_**Ninsh**__**ū**_

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><p>A collection of the esteemed professor's most influential works and theories compiled from the notes of the late Hiruzen Sarutobi by his son Asuma Sarutobi and his grandson Konohamaru Sarutobi.<p>

Now with commentary by Iruka Umino, Ebisu **[smudge]**, Naruto Uzumaki, and others.

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><p>This Edition Published by the Leaf Literary Company<p>

First Published by Yomi-nin Publishing House

Text Copyright (C) The Sarutobi Clan Copyright Trust, A. & K. Sarutobi, and the Hokage Foundation

All [above] rights [not] reserved.

All [below] rights reserved.

_Naruto_ and _Naruto Shippuden_ are trademarks of Masashi Kishimoto, Viz Media,_ et cetera, et cetera, etc.  
><em>

This is a work of [fan]fiction. Any resemblance of the characters within to real people, living or dead, is wholly coincidentally and in no way intended by the author.


	2. I 3 i e Academy Basics

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

3. Ninjutsu

i. The Elementary Three (Plus One)

e. **Academy Basics: Everything From Rope Escape to Shurikenjutsu - Part 1**

One thing I have found nearly universal among the children who have attended the Konoha Ninja Academy during my tenure as Hokage is that they quickly tire of learning the basics. Indeed, many adults also have little patience for what ninja arts they view as 'mundane'. As a result, some unscrupulous teachers have in the past glossed over these techniques in favor of more 'interesting' jutsu, not realizing or not caring that by doing so they were severely stunting the potential growth of their students into properly skilled shinobi.

Of course the responsible teachers have always been promptly tarred, feathered, and marched through town on a rail whenever such actions came to light after I learned of this practice early in my first term as Hokage, as per the_ Sarutobi Education Reform Act_.


	3. I 2 iii c Personality and Aura

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

2. Chakra: The Life-blood of the Ninja

iii. Chakra Reserves and Potency

c. **The Correlation Between Personality and Aura - Part 1**

Ever since the invention of chakra sensing techniques (I. 3. iii. d.; I. 8. ii. e.), sensory-type ninja have been known to remark that the chakra of particularly nice individuals is almost invariably pleasant to the sensor, often using words like 'warm' and 'bright' to describe it. On the other end of the spectrum, exceptionally cruel or vicious individuals are universally described as having chakra that is 'vile', 'deathly', and 'malevolent', as though their intentions were imprinted upon the very essence of their being.

However, this does not necessarily mean that one can actually identify wicked individuals by the feel of their chakra: that would require sensory ninjutsu of a much higher level than actually exists.

_(As a matter of fact, such sensor-abilities __are__ now known to exist, though they are exceedingly rare and seem to require a mastery of both tailed-beast chakra and senjutsu - a skill set that only one Naruto Uzumaki is known to possess. - Iruka)_

_(Yeah, yeah, I know: I'm awesome. Nothing new there. ;D - Naruto)_


	4. I 4 i a Henge & Bunshin are not Genjutsu

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

4. Genjutsu

i. Mental Mastery

a. **What Seperates **_**Henge **_**and**_** Bunshin**_** from Genjutsu? - Part 1**

One misconception in particular that is perversely prevalent among ninja of all levels, from the greenest academy graduates to the most hardened veterans, is that the Clone and Transformation Techniques are genjutsu. This belief is so common that if you were to walk up to a random ninja on the street and ask them "Is the transformation jutsu solid?", you would either be swiftly incapacitated as a possible threat or hear them say "Of course not. Everyone knows that!".

In reality, however, the clone and transformation jutsu are both ninjutsu. True genjutsu directly affects the desired target's brain, which is not how the clone jutsu and transformation jutsu work. Unfortunately, no amount of effort on my part has yet been able to correct this widespread ignorance among my fellow shinobi.


	5. I 3 iii d Sensory Ninjutsu

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

3. Ninjutsu

iii. Specialized Ninjutsu

d. **Sensory Ninjutsu**

Ninja live in the shadows. We thrive in anonymity. To stay hidden from our enemies is our first and best defense against attack. This philosophy is so intertwined with the idea of 'ninja' that the word itself means 'stealthy-person'. And we shinobi have spent centuries perfecting the art of not being seen - centuries of perfecting our techniques to point where we are capable of hiding even from ourselves - that is to say, that even other ninja often have difficulty finding a ninja who does not wish to be found. As a result, depending on who is better at hiding than the enemy is at seeking, battles between Ninja can last anywhere from seconds to days until either the has been defeated or you realize that they are already long-gone.

But, as in all things, there is an equalizer: sensory ninjutsu. Primarily, this entails the ability to detect chakra signatures, which enables the user to detect all but the most cunningly stealthy foe. With the use of sensory ninjutsu, conflicts which would otherwise be long, drawn-out affairs can be resolved simply by pinpointing the enemy's chakra signature and eliminating them before they realize they have been found. However, individuals with talent for this field are rather rare, and thus even more highly prized -nearly more-so even than medic-ninja (I. 3. iii. a; I. 8. ii. d.)- and the techniques they use tend to be fiercely protected, top-secret hidden jutsu (I. 3. iii. g.).

Of course, all of this also makes them very high-priority targets, so users of sensory ninjutsu generally tend to have extremely short life-expectancies during wartime.

_(Geeze, that's depressing... - Naruto)_

_(It's also a reality of war, and Lord Hokage lived to see a great many, including three of the Great Shinobi World Wars. - Iruka)_


	6. I 2 i a & b & c Mind Body Yin and Yang

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

2. Chakra: The Life-blood of the Ninja

i. Mind and Body

a. **Spiritual Energy - Part 1**

b. **Physical Energy - Part 1**

c.** Yin-Yang Manipulation - Part 1**

The power of the mind is the power of the soul. The power of the soul is the power of imagination. The essence of imagination is spiritual energy. The mental component of chakra, spiritual energy is linked with meditation, abstract conceptualization, and mental discipline.

The power of the body is the power of the flesh. The power of the flesh is the power of creation. The essence of creation is physical energy. The bodily component of chakra, physical energy is linked with strength, vitality, and stamina.

If you train your body until the strength of your limbs can crush mountains and all weapons fail when turned against you, but neglect to enrich yourself mentally and spiritually, then you have accomplished nothing as a shinobi. Likewise, if you train your mind until the mysteries of the universe are as idle riddles and mortal wills quail at your gaze, but neglect your body and allow it to atrophy, then you have accomplished nothing as a shinobi.

Mind and body, heaven and earth, yin and yang. Without both of these things, a ninja has no power. If you have heaven but lack earth, run in the fields and train your body. If you have earth but lack heaven, study the ancient teachings and hone your mind. Only when you have both heaven and earth in equal measures will you be ready to attain the power of the ninja. Remember this always as you grow, and nothing will be beyond your grasp.


	7. I 1 i a Your Village

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

1. The Ninja Code

i. Honor

a. **Your Village - Part 1**

At all times during the life of a ninja, they must keep one thing at the forefront of their mind: honor. To elevate and preserve the honor of one's village is to exalt oneself in the minds of one's peers. The well-being of the village and its people comes before all else. Anything which threatens the village must be eliminated - whether through diplomacy, armed conflict, or assassination. These are the tenets of the Ninja Code as taught to our children.

No matter the source of the threat, for the sake of honor, a shinobi shall never fail to nip it in the bud before it blossoms into hideous flower of fire and death that darkens the skies with leaves of acrid black smoke and shoots forth reaching roots of fear and mistrust into the hearts of the people, tearing apart the very foundations of the village. A shinobi must be willing to do anything for the sake of their home and their comrades.

_(It was the necessity for such teachings as this that one of the bloodiest tragedies in the history of the Leaf came to pass. If you have properly studied the history of the Fourth Great Ninja World War and its underlying causes, you will no doubt know of what many historians are now terming _'The Uchiha Cycle'_: following the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox upon Konoha, many grew suspicious of the Uchiha Clan since the previous time the Nine-tails had attacked, several decades earlier, it had been under the control of Madara Uchiha. The Uchiha Clan resented these suspicions, and began plotting a coup against the village. One of their most talented members, young ANBU Captain Itachi, was tasked with spying on the ANBU and destroying any evidence of the Clan's treacherous intentions. _

_But Itachi was ultimately loyal to the village, and eliminated the threat - his family. At the time, this was a top secret Black Ops mission, and essentially a suicide one. The boy succeeded, but only with the aid of the traitorous Madara who slaughtered his kin indiscriminately regardless of whether or not they were part of the planned coup. The trauma experienced by the sole survivor of this massacre eventually caused him to go AWOL and ultimately go on a crusade against the Leaf and the rest of the ninja world. Eventually, _**[a large part of the page is missing]**_ and with that, the Fourth Great Ninja World War was brought to a close. - Ebisu)_


	8. I 1 i a Your Village  Part 2

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

1. The Ninja Code

i. Honor

a. **Your Village - Part 2**

The sections of the Ninja Code (as it was taught to me by the First and Second Hokages) pertaining to maintaining the honor and safety of the village, while long pre-dating the creation of the modern hidden villages, are of great importance in this day and age. While the earliest ninja villages were essentially large clan compounds primarily inhabited by one or two specific allied clans and their retainers and could thus rather easily maintain unity largely through ties of blood and marriage, the modern hidden villages are far grander in scale and inhabited by dozens of ninja clans as well as numerous civilian families who support the villages' internal infrastructures and economies. Thus it is much harder -and much more important- to foster and maintain peace and loyalty among those who inhabit the village.

Usually, in the Leaf Village at least, it is not too difficult for ninja to acquire a sense of patriotism and a love of their comrades. Peace through mutual understanding, as partly facilitated in Konoha by the doctrine of the Will of Fire which has been passed from master to pupil for centuries within the Senju Clan, is the ideal peace. If you treat your fellows with kindness and understanding, they will come to love you, and will fight alongside you. And should you fall -dead or alive- in combat, then their avenging fury shall be even as was described in the ancient epic:

_"[He] did not stop to wonder what was to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage. He sprang forward with a yell and seized his master's sword in his left hand. Then he charged. No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate." _**[1]**

Thus fueled by righteous fury, a ninja shall defend his village and his people to the last, even to death, against all threats. There is no finer or surer way to bring honor to one's name and village than that.

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><p><strong>[1]<strong> Excerpt from page 711 of _The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers, Book 4, Chapter X: 'The Choices of Master Samwise'_.


	9. I 3 ii a Fire Style

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

3. Ninjutsu

ii. Natural Affinities for Nature Manipulation

a. **Fire Stye**

Of the six basic chakra elements, fire release can be the most dangerous to its user. Even if you can keep the flames you conjure from spreading uncontrollably, you still risk severe burns if you are not capable of perfectly controlling the transfer of heat, which typically requires absolute mastery of fire style nature manipulation.

The power of fire is in its heat, which can ordinarily be transferred by direct contact, through fluid currents, or via radiation (which works even in a vacuum). The latter two methods of heat transfer are of particular concern to fire users who, even if they never touch the flames from their fire jutsu, must almost always start out in spitting distance of the blaze when their technique is first initiated, while the target has the chance to dodge the attack or else conjure a defense of some sort against it.

Thankfully, most of the people who teach their students fire ninjutsu have the presence of mind to only give them altered versions of the techniques that are specifically designed so that the function of suppressing convection and radiation from the conjured flames is not left to the user to do independent of the jutsu, but rather made one of the technique's primary functions. In most cases, it is only if and when the student masters fire manipulation that they are permitted to either learn the unaltered versions of their techniques or create their own variations. It is for these reasons that while an ordinary shinobi using a fire jutsu is, to most competent ninja, a minor nuisance or distraction, a fire master using the same technique is a grave threat who must be swiftly neutralized, since the effects of a fire elemental technique with properly controlled heat transfer are virtually ineluctable.

Interestingly, in what may come as a surprise to many, the Uchiha Clan, despite being well known for their use of fire ninjutsu, rarely ever produce any individuals who have actually taken the effort to truly master the element, because that is a highly time-consuming process and Uchiha prefer not to specialize in any single area, but to train in numerous arts as generalists.


	10. I 4 i c Dispelling an Illusion

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

4. Genjutsu

i. Mental Mastery

c. **Dispelling an Illusion**

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><p><em>"Hey, Tobirama-sensei!" <em>

_The white-haired Senju turned to face his pupil, Hiruzen, and the boy's two teammates, Homura and Koharu, watching him with barely contained enthusiasm. Like they were expecting him to do something incredible at any moment. "What is it?"_

_"Lord Hokage said you would teach us how to dispel genjutsu today!" Homura chirped._

_Tobirama sighed, inwardly cursing his brother for sticking him with all the teaching duties. "Okay," he said, turning to face Sasuke's brat. Quickly forming a series of hand-seals, he trapped the boy in his darkness genjutsu. _

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><p>One of the most important skills for any well-rounded shinobi to possess is the ability to dispel illusions. There are a few ways that this can be accomplished. The most efficient method is to disrupt one's chakra, as genjutsu works by controlling the chakra in the target's nervous system to create mental-sensory constructs. Disrupting one's chakra can be done in any number of ways, though the two most basic are to either briefly suppress your chakra or to generate a spike in your chakra levels. This is generally sufficient for breaking out of lower-level illusions, but more skilled ninja will quickly and violently fluctuate their chakra levels. By doing so, the enemy will have difficulty maintaining their "grip" on your chakra and be forced to let go.<p>

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><p><em>Young Hiruzen, seeing naught but an endless expanse of nothingness in all directions, fought back the urge to groan. Tobirama-sensei <em>always_ used him in these sorts of demonstrations. _

_Koharu watched her teammate just standing there, transfixed, with growing apprehension. She and Homura had been told not to interfere with Hiruzen, but who knew what was happening in Sarutobi's mind? She was about to go in and help him when the boy formed a hand-seal. _

_Inside the illusory realm of darkness, his eyes closed and hands forming a ram seal, Hiruzen was focusing on his chakra like he had been taught. Rapidly alternating between surging and suppressing his chakra with a cry of _"Release!"_, he attempted to buck the presence of his teacher's influence, but to no avail. Tobirama was a skilled ninja, and he did not believe in going easy on his students. _

_"Nice try, Saru, but that was not sufficient. What would you do if I were an enemy, and had trapped you in that illusion so I could kill you with no trouble? I know you can do better than that," to Hiruzen, his teacher's voice seemed to reverberate in the infinite blackness of the genjutsu in which he was trapped._

_Koharu and Homura, however, were not privy to this exchange. All they saw was their teacher drawing a kunai and stepping towards their teammate._

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><p>With that said, there is no guarantee that this will always work. For example, if the enemy is exceptionally skilled in use of the spiritual <em>Yin<em> element or they trap you in a particularly powerful or devious genjutsu, then you may very well find yourself unable to dispel the illusion. But, assuming you have teammates with you, then it is possible for them to free you from the enemy's genjutsu by one of two possible ways: launching an attack on the individual using the genjutsu and break their concentration, or by sending some of their chakra into your system to dispel the illusion. Both are usually effective, though they may not always work.

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><p><em>Looking to one another and nodding, Homura and Koharu split up: Homura rushing towards Hiruzen and Koharu jumping in to head off Tobirama-sensei. Tossing down a smoke bomb, the young kunoichi threw a salvo of shuriken in his direction before quickly changing her location. She heard the clangs of metal against metal, indicating that her sensei had parried the projectiles. This time she tossed a couple of kunai before lobbing in another smoke bomb to keep her cover from clearing and changing her location again. <em>

_This time, however, she did not hear the sound of her sensei deflecting the throwing knives - instead, she heard the telltale _splush_ of water falling to the ground before a large hand tightly grabbed her left shoulder. _

_She did not look behind her to see who it was. _

_She already knew who it was. _

_Instead, she stole a nervous glance in Sarutobi and Mitokado's direction. As she had feared, she saw her sensei fighting the boy. He was only using taijutsu along with the occasional ninja tool - though not his Sword of the Raging Thunder-god. She did not know whether this was because he was going easy on the lad or because he was a water clone and thus incapable of using chakra. Whatever the case, Homura was nonetheless still losing badly._

_Experimentally struggling to see if she could break free of her teacher's grasp or possibly land a blow on him, she found that, no, she could not. And in response to her struggling, the maybe-clone of her instructor pinched the base of her neck with his free hand and sent a pulse of chakra into it, temporarily paralyzing her. _

_Koharu hissed when she collapsed onto the ground, her body limp and unmoving. Shortly after that, she heard Homura yell -try as she might, she was not facing him and could not turn her head what was happening- before he landed next to her, his glasses snapped and the lenses cracked. This was why she kept telling the boy to get a pair of military-grade BC-glasses to wear when on duty, no matter how hideous he claimed they made him look, but the boy was irritatingly obstinate. He was going to go broke one of these days if he had to constantly keep getting new glasses every time they were lost on a mission or broken in a spar._

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><p>But if the enemy is too strong or in such a position that they cannot be assailed and will not let anyone get near you, or you are alone with no back-up to rely on, then there is one last way to break free from a genjutsu. By deliberately inflicting a real, physical wound upon yourself, you can cause a surge of adrenaline and endorphins through your endocrine system. This, combined with the sudden pain, can shock you out of virtually any illusion you may find yourself trapped in. However -for obvious reasons- this should only be done as a last resort for when there is no other way to dispel an enemy genjutsu in a life or death situation.<p>

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><p><em>Frustrated with his repeated inability to dispel the absolute darkness genjutsu his sensei had trapped him in, and too proud to simply admit defeat, Hiruzen grabbed a kunai from his pouch and stabbed his hand. The effect of this, he would later muse, was rather like having several gallons of freezing water dumped over his head while half-asleep to jolt him into awareness: sudden and unpleasant. <em>

_The first thing he heard upon having his sense freed from outside control was his sensei swearing._

_"Goddammit!" he groaned, "Hashirama will never let me hear the end of this. '_What did I tell you, little brother_?'" the man said in perfect imitation of his older brother's tone and mannerisms, "'_I have warned you hundreds of times that your "hidden tests of character" were bound to backfire and get someone hurt one of these days.' _Damnit, Saru," he sighed, eying the boy's hand with obvious exasperation, "Why did you have to go and do something so foolish? I was just about to release you from the genjutsu."_

_Hiruzen stared blankly at his teacher, trying and failing to hide his confusion. _

_Tobirama shook his head before explaining: "The point of this exercise was not to test you on how to break _yourself_ out of an illusion, Saru, but on how to break a teammate out of one. And your teammates actions showed that they clearly understood what to do and how to do it (even if they did ultimately fail to actually do so). They put your well-being in the face of a possible threat ahead of my instructions to not interfere. If they had simply stayed where they were and done nothing, that would have been equivalent to leaving you behind, trapped in an illusion with the risk of possible harm or death befalling you, in favor of completing the objective of a mission. But they did _not _do that, and did all they could to save you, so they passed," he said, giving the two, who were lying in a heap on the ground, a proud smile. They were not amused, if their caustic grumbling was anything to go by. "Now come Saru, we should __**really**__ take you to see a medic."_

_Hiruzen shrugged and was about to pull the kunai out of his hand,when he glanced down and saw that he had actually stabbed the implement a bit more than an inch THROUGH his palm, with the tip of blade sticking out from the back of his hand. At that considerably-more-gruesome-than-he-had-expected sight, he swooned and fell unconscious in the middle of the training grounds._

_He did not awaken until two days had passed._

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><p><strong>Eh, I decided to include a short story along with the usual since I got struck with a bit of inspiration. You probably shouldn't expect to see this sort of thing too often in this fic, but I might do this whenever I have a good idea for a story to go with a given subject. As to whether or not, in the context of the fic, this is actually in the Third Hokage's book... I'm not really certain, myself. If I decide it is, I'd pretty have to limit myself to characters and scenarios the third could actually know of and write about for these little intra-fic fics. If I decide it isn't, then I could use a much wider variety of characters in these demonstrative mini-fics, but then they might seem more out of place. <strong>

**Ah, whatever. Let me know if you like what I'm doing with this, or if I should stick to one-shots and multi-chapter fics that I pretty much never finish due to fickle attention span and ever-shifting interests.**


	11. I 1 iii b Proper Conduct at Home

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

1. The Ninja Code

iii. Proper Conduct

b. **At Home - Part 1**

Even when shinobi are not performing missions abroad, there are still standards of behavior that they are expected to uphold. Whether training, performing missions within their village, or even off-duty a ninja is always expected to be courteous and dutiful.

A ninja must be respectful of their superiors and tolerant of their subordinates. Addressing a higher ranking officer with a pet name is typically frowned upon as unprofessional. Abusing the trust or respect of lower ranking ninja is improper and in extreme cases can warrant a demotion or even an indefinite suspension.

Civilians are as much citizens of the village as its shinobi. Any ninja found to be using their position to intimidate, extort, or otherwise mistreat a civilian may find themselves put on probation or imprisoned.

Your comrades are to be cherished and protected. While spars are known to occasionally escalate into more violent matters and accidents are bound to happen, any ninja found to attacking another ninja of the same village with lethal intent will be punished accordingly. Furthermore, premeditated assault or murder of a comrade will be treated as outright treason.

A shinobi, if not on a mission abroad or an authorized vacation, is expected to be ready for their leader to call upon their services at any time. Any ninja leaving the village without official authorization shall be put down on the books as a rouge-ninja, barring reasonable extenuating circumstances. At minimum, they will be considered AWOL and put on probation upon their return. At worst, they will be declared traitors and executed, and any who aided them in their escape or hindered the authorities in apprehending the subject shall be punished in accordance with law based on the severity of their actions and the village's jurisdiction over them.


	12. I 8 i d ANBU

I. Concerning the Ninja Arts

8. Classifying Ninja

i. Rank

d. **Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai - ANBU**

In every ninja village there are certain shinobi of considerable skill and discipline who answer directly to the Kage, performing the most dangerous and most sensitive missions. In the Leaf, these ninja are known as ANBU Black Ops.

The position of an ANBU is not part of the ordinary genin-chunin-jonin rankings, but rather distinctly separate from them. ANBU are not chosen so much based on individual skill as they are on mastery of the basics and understanding of the Ninja Code. ANBU are anonymous agents, so they are all taught the same techniques and fighting styles. With a few exceptions, ANBU are strongly discouraged from using techniques that are highly distinctive to them, such as original ninjutsu of their own creation, as these could be used to identify them and potentially compromise village security.

The most important thing for an ANBU is their discipline. While sentimentality or reluctance to do certain things can be forgiven in other ninja, an ANBU must willing to do anything for the village without hesitation or regret. It is not strength that makes ANBU dangerous, for many jonin and even some chunin are more powerful, but their mentality of self-sacrifice and unwavering sense of duty.

ANBU are as faceless shadows. They feel no fear and do not bleed. They are the arm of the Kage, via which he asserts his authority and maintains order in his village.

_(Even the Third Hokage, a known idealist and peerless shinobi, had at times the need to make such decisions as many would consider horrible. Not everyone can be saved, and not everyone _wants _to be saved. There were many times when he and his predecessors had to choose between evils for the good of the village - this is the unfortunate reality of the world in which we live. -Iruka)_


End file.
